Novelist Katrina Kittle will read from her most recently published book, “The Blessings of the Animals,” on Thursday, Nov. 4, at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford.

Her free talk will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Mukaiyama University Room of the Frame-Westerberg Commons. A question-and-answer session, book signing and reception will follow. The program is part of the university’s Spectrum Series.

“Most reading series tend to focus on literary writers who make their living doing other things – teaching and editing, primarily,” said Nancy McCabe, associate professor of writing at Pitt-Bradford. “Especially given the recent economy, students are always asking me how anyone makes a living writing. So I’ve been trying to bring in authors with varied career paths.”

Kittle’s novel, “The Blessings of the Animals,” is an examination of the institution of marriage as the veterinarian Cami Anderson comes to terms with her own divorce through her “chaotic circus of relationships” with family, friends, and a cast of animals that includes an angry horse, a three-legged cat and an escape-artist goat.